May 30 Yamaguchi | らぁ麺やまぐち

Style: Shoyu w/ ChickenBowl to Crush: Tokusei Tori-Soba (特製鶏そば)

Yamaguchi serves tori soba, one of the more popular styles of ramen on the Tokyo scene recently. A shoyu ramen that uses chicken soup and chiyu (chicken oil), tori soba is typically served with straight, thin noodles topped with slices of tori chashu. Among the many notable shops serving this genre that have opened in the past two years, we rank Yamaguchi in Nishi-Waseda among the best.

Yamaguchi-san honed his skills as an apprentice at several respected shops around Tokyo. He opened Yamaguchi in 2013 and it was instantly recognized as one of the best in its genre. SpaghettiOs are to fresh pasta in Naples what your average chicken noodle soup is to a bowl of Yamaguchi. Note the rich yellow layer of chiyu floating on the surface of the soup. Take a sip. Yes, you just had an orgasm – in your soul.

Because chicken lacks the high fat content of pork, tori-chashu tends to be a bit dry. A good slice is somewhat hard to come by, even in Tokyo. Yamaguchi-san's is the best we've had – soft, juicy, and flavorful. The pork chashu is also excellent, as is the egg. Order anything on Yamaguchi-san's menu with complete confidence.